Party animal

Kantians aren't always what you expect. 

"…Contrary to stereotype—which pictures Kant as a joyless automaton, rigidly stuck on his daily routine—Kant enjoyed wine, billiards, and fancy clothes. On occasion, we are told, he drank so much he couldn't find his way home. Kant flirted with women, told excellent jokes, and hosted much-loved dinner parties..." --Kieran Setiya

So that film "The Last Days of Immanuel Kant," depicting him as "famously abstemious and abstruse" (wroteRichard Brody in The New Yorker), gets it at least half wrong? That will please my Kantian friend Daryl, master carpenter and himself always the life of the party. But it won't please him that Kant thought beer makes people "boorish"… of course, Manny never tried PBR. 

(Dr. Daryl’s sober judgment: “Well, he was a convivial host for dinner parties at his house, once he could afford a house (at age 60). Don’t believe the caricatures of grad school. I gave several papers that stressed Kant’s sociality. But caricatures retain a hold in undergrad & grad programs.” If I’m not to believe the caricatures of grad school, though, I’m going to require an extensive re-education. So are we all, I expect.)

Or, I presume, kombucha-my own favored brew these days. When I finally churn out my first good batch (I got a kit for Christmas, but they say winter is not a good time) I'll throw a symposium and offer it to my un-abstemious pals. We'll see if the probiotic elixir conduces to Veritas. Or just the usual badinage we like to sling, whatever else we're swallowing.

One last cheeseburger on French bread with a side of rings and a beer, at fabled (but gone) Rotier's on Elliston Place-Oct '19